Tag Archives: sound

Michinari-shū 215

Listening to a flute in a village.

おきゐつつねざめのみするころにしもよぶかきふえのこゑをきくかな

oki’itsutsu
nezame nomi suru
koro ni shi mo
yobu kakibue no
koe o kiku kana
Ever and always on arising and
Waking from sleep, that
Is when,
The call of a flute beside my fence
Is the sound I hear!

Minamoto no Michinari (?-1019)
源道済

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 61

Winter Poems    Twenty Rounds

Left

かきくもりあられふりしけ白玉をしける庭とも人の見るがに

kakikumori
arare furishike
shiratama o
shikeru niwa to mo
hito no miru gani
Clouds rush in
Dropping scattered hailstones;
Pearl
Strewn, my garden
I would that he would see…

119

Right

天の河ふゆは空までこほるらし石間にたぎつ音だにもせず

ama no kawa
fuyu wa sora made
kōrurashi
iwama ni tagitsu
oto dani mo sezu
The River of Heaven in
Winter: the very skies
Seem frozen, with
Between the rocky crags rushing
No sound at all.

120

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 33

Left

夏の夜のまつばもそよと吹く風はいづれか雨の声にかはれる

natsu no yo no
matsuba mo soyo to
fuku kaze wa
izure ka ame no
koe ni kawareru
On a summer night
The pine needles rustling
With the gusting wind
At some point to raindrops’
Sound has changed.

64

Right

夜やくらき道やまどへる郭公我が宿をしもすぎがてにする

yo ya kuraki
michi ya madoeru
hototogisu
wa ga yado o shimo
sugigateni naku
Is it night’s darkness?
Or, have you lost your way,
Oh, cuckoo?
By my house
You cannot pass, it seems, and so you sing.

65[1]


[1] Kokinshū III: 154, attributed to Ki no Tomonori.

Kanpyō no ōntoki chūgū uta’awase 8

Round Eight

Left

秋風の吹来る声はやまながらなみ立ちかへるおとぞきこゆる

akikaze no
fukikuru koe wa
yama nagara
nami tachikaeru
oto zo kikoyuru
The autumn breeze’s
Cry comes gusting;
And in the mountains,
The sound of waves washing back and forth
Comes to my ears.

15

Right

すみの江の松を秋風吹くからにこゑうちそふる沖つ白なみ

suminoe no
matsu o akikaze
fuku kara ni
koe uchisouru
oki tsu shiranami
At Suminoe
The pines by the autumn breeze
Are blown, so
The sound lies atop
The whitecaps in the offing.

16

Horikawa-in enjo awase 1

This match took place when, hearing that his courtiers were composing poetry, His Majesty ordered them to compose love poems to the ladies in attendance.

おもひあまりいかでもらさんおく山の岩かきこむる谷の下みづ

omoi’amari
ikade morasan
okuyama no
iwa kakikomuru
tani no shitamizu
My passion’s full, so
How should it o’erflow?
Deep within the mountains
Hemmed in by crags are
The waters of the valley floor…

Major Counsellor Kinzane
1

In reply

いかなれば音にのみきく山川の浅きにしもはこころよすらん

ika nareba
oto ni nomi kiku
yamakawa no
asaki ni shimo wa
kokoro yosuran
For some reason,
I simply hear the sound
Of a mountain stream;
Into the shallows, indeed, has
Your heart been swept, it seems!

[Nakako,] The Suō Handmaid
2

Love IX: 7

Left (Tie)
昔聞く君が手馴れの琴ならば夢に知られて音をも立てまし

mukashi kiku
kimi ga tenare no
koto naraba
yume ni shirarete
ne o mo tatemashi
Long ago, I heard
Your favourite
Zither play – if that were me, then
In your dreams I would be known, and
Make a sound most sweet within your sleep…

Lord Sada’ie
1093

Right
わぎも子が心のひかぬ琴の音は我まつにこそ通はざりけれ

wagimoko ga
kokoro no hikanu
koto no ne wa
wa ga matsu ni koso
kayowazarikere
My darling’s
Heartstrings are not tugged
By my zither’s strains, so
Though I pine for her
‘Tis of no use at all…

The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1094

The Right state: the Left’s poem gives the impression of being based on something – but what? The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.

In judgement: there is nothing unusual about the Left’s poem. It simply seems to be in the conception of the Man’yōshū poem where, ‘a Japanese zither made from the wood of the parasol tree transforms into a maiden in a dream, and says “When will / The day come that / I shall sing / Making his lap / My pillow?”’ I also have the feeling that it is alluding to the subsequent poem, however. So, it is certainly not the case that it is not based on anything. The Right’s poem has ‘heartstrings are not tugged’ (kokoro no hikanu) and then the metaphorical ‘though I pine for her’ (wa ga matsu ni koso), so is certainly not lacking in conception either. They are equivalent and tie.